Dating Moira
by legendarytobes
Summary: Set in "The Unexpected" Universe, read "The Unexpected" and then "The Unresolved" first. Clark and Chloe's daughter Moira deals with an over protective big brother and the dating woes of being a meteor mutant-Kryptonian mutt.
1. Chapter 1

1

Kevin met Moira in one of the cheesiest and most desperate ways he could think of. He was walking across the Met U campus, hurrying off to the library to research a paper for his advanced accounting class when he passed by the Pi Phi Gamma lawn. There, he'd seen the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen stretched out on the lawn, sunning herself. The fact that it was November and getting chilly didn't seem to bother her. Of course, she wasn't obvious about laying out either. She was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and curled up on an old afghan. Maybe it was the weather, but most girls he knew would be in bikinis.

Moira wasn't about showing off like that.

So, entranced by her, Kevin struck up a conversation, and that was how he met the sorority's esteemed president and one of the most dogged basment reporters at the Daily Planet. It was how everything started. They started sweet and simple with dates, when she had the time to squeeze them in, at the restaraunts just off campus, sometimes, if they were feeling bold, they'd even go into the heart of Metropolis, some place nice and four star. He could swing that or at least his Visa could. Those were Halcyon days, simple days with her undivided attention, at least more or less. She still had times to run off, to be rushing off for a quick rewrite for her editor.

At first, he didn't mind. He and she traded in that regard. He had a lot of pressure and group projects he needed to do to finish up his M.B.A. They fit initially because she understood his workaholic nature but, over time, Moira had more things to step out to and that began to bug him. But what bugged him more was what came within the first month of meeting her...

I. Siblings

Kevin showed up at her room in the sorority house at seven one evening in early January. Rush for the spring term was finally over and he had a chance to see her. She'd been buried under bids and cuts and a hundred different girls passing through the house. What he had not expected was to show up in her room (it was a single and the largest in the house) and find two men sitting on her sofa. They looked like night and day. One was slender with sandy hair and blue eyes, while the other was tall, with broad shoulders and jet black hair and eyes that reminded him vaguely of Moira's.

The dark-haired guy stood up and Kevin swallowed a little. He was taller than he was, not huge, maybe about 6'1, but still taller and with the width of his shoulders, Kevin felt crowded.

"Can I help you?"

"I'm here to pick up Moira. We have a date." He smiled and held out his hand. "I'm Kevin."

"Connor," the other man replied, shaking his hand and squeezing it far too tightly. Kevin was afraid something would crunch. Finally releasing his hand, Connor added, " Mo's finishing a meeting with the social committee." He quirked his head in the oddest fashion. "It's running late because they can't agree on streamer colors."

"She texted you?"

The man still on the sofa grinned. "Something like that. Hey," he waved. "I'm Jacks, but I don't feel like standing. My bad."

"Jacks and Connor, right."

"Con, technically," Connor corrected.

"Huh, you guys aren't big on syllables, are you?"

"Not really. So you date Mo, that's interesting. She hasn't said much about you."

"Oh, and you would be?"

Just then Moira burst in through the door, a whirlwind, weighed down with binders in gleaming crimson and gold (sorority colors). "Con! Jacks! What are you doing here?"

"I was bored," Jacks whined and you have better cable.

"That's not a very good excuse," she sighed. "Alura said something, didn't she?"

Con shrugged. "She might have mentioned some things."

Moira rolled her eyes and looked up at him apologetically. "I am so sorry. Kevin, Con and Jacks are my brothers. I mean, Jacks is kind of adopted, but it's the same idea. I'm not seeing anyone on the side."

Jacks pouted. "I'm hurt Mo."

"Ignore Jacks. He only thinks with one organ and it's not in his skull. Anyway, they like to meet my dates. I thought if I kept it quieter they wouldn't ambush." She sighed. "I have to get changed and I'll be ready. Until then, Jacks and Con, at least play nice, alright?"

"I don't know," Con grumbled. "It depends on how far you've gone."

Mo glared at her brother and Kevin was sure it was his imagination her eyes were red. "You don't want to piss me off, Con. Just be nice." Leaning up-Moira was as short as her brother was tall-she kissed him. "I promise. I can be done in a blink."

Jacks snorted. "I'd bet."

"Be nice," she huffed, hurrying into the bedroom part of her suite.

"So," Con said, leaning against her study table. "You're the new boyfriend."

"Yes. Moira and I have been dating for about six weeks."

"Well isn't that fascinating."

Kevin decided then that he didn't like Con all that much. "Well I think it is. Your sister is very important to me."

"After six weeks."

"Well she's pretty special. I've never met anyone like her."

"Oh that's for sure," Jacks snarked under his breath.

Con glared at him. "I have to say that even if Alura was the little birdie, she didn't mention much about you."

"Well, let's see. I'm finishing up my M.B.A. on campus. I intend to go and work at least for a while at my father's firm and then would like to get out of Metropolis. Maybe New York."

"I live there," Con said. "That would be interesting."

He blinked. "You flew all the way to Kansas to meet me?" He decided threaten would not be the best verb.

"We have some frequent flier miles," Jacks replied, grinning. "So, were you at Met U as an undergrad too?"

"Yeah, I had a football scholarship, um, quarterback but I blew out my knee in summer pretraining before I was a freshmen. It was rough."

Jacks's eyes lit up. "I played baseball in high school. I was pretty good."

"Good hitter?"

He smirked. "I batted about .450."

He whistled. "So did you play in college or now?"

He shrugged. "Nope, but if I wanted, I don't think the Green Monster would be all that bad."

"Boston?"

Con was still glaring at him but he relaxed a little. "If we didn't have years of brotherly love between us, I'd have to kill him. A Red Sox fan, really. So, I see, athletic, wealthy family, big business career ahead. Yup, Mo's type."

Moira popped back out of her room in a little black dress that fit all her curves in just the right way. "Con, come with me."

"Where?"

"Outside, don't make me drag you out."

Again, Con and Jacks exchanged a look that was akin to pure terror. "Mo?"

"Now, Connor Sullivan."

He nodded and followed her out, leaving the door ajar just a little. He heard rapid fire whispering but the oddest thought he had before shutting it all the way was that it didn't sound like English.

"Do they fight a lot?"

Jacks shrugged. "We're very protective of Mo. She's the youngest and she and Con are pretty much inseparable. He hasn't found a boyfriend yet that meets his standards."

"Maybe he's aiming too high."

Jacks nodded. "Or maybe not. I'm going to issue the disclaimer now. If your hurt her in any way, we'll kill you and hide the body."

"What?"

Jacks smiled. "Fair warning."

Kevin decided then he wished that Alura was Moira's only family and that he'd much rather never meet her dad if her brothers were already this scary.

"Moira?"

"Yes?" she asked, cutting into her linguine. "What's up?"

"Your, uh, brothers aren't really going to kill me, are they?"

"They say that every time. All my exes are still most definitely alive."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Dad has a no murder policy and they're really good about it."

He nodded. "Jacks is not your actual brother?"

SHe stilled. "Jacks is family but he's not by blood, exactly. I guess, technically, he'd be a very distant cousin if you went back far enough, maybe." She then paused and, under her breath added, "His DNA has so got to be closer than yours."

"What?"

"Nothing. Jacks's dad and mine were friends and then Jacks's dad died when he was still really little. My dad and Aunt Kara have been helping to take care of him ever since, checking up on him. He's just like a big brother, now, overbearing and everything. I just think of him as one."

"Oh, you didn't mention them before."

"Speak of the devil. I wanted some time to ease you into the idea of Jacks and Con. I know they come on strong."

"I would say that."

"Con's all empty threats. I'd never let him touch you."

"Again with the massive relief. Moira, do you want me to call you Mo ? You all seem big on nicknames."

"No, that's a family thing. I like to keep those things separate."

"Which would be why so far I've only really been exposed to Alura?"

She shrugged. "Alura doesn't usually threaten Mafioso action. I know Jacks and Con say it every time. They really haven't killed anyone yet. I'm like 99% sure on that."

"Oh."

She sighed. "You don't have a sister do you?"

He shook his head. "All boys, the three of us."

"Well it's like this pack mentality. They treat Alura the same way, especially Jacks, but that might be because he's always been jealous too."

"That's fairly twisted."

She shrugged again. "We're really very close, the four of us. We're kind of all we have."

"In the middle of a sorority house of fifty girls. Moira, you're the head of the most elite sorority on campus."

She nodded. "I have more of a winning personality than Con. He sometimes channels dad's lack of a sense of fun too often. But it's not the same. There's just things you can only share with your family and that's the stuff only they get."

"Well, I'd like to think you'd let me get it some day."

"And after a whopping six whole weeks," she snarked. "One day, maybe, but there are things I so can't say to you that I can with Lur."

"Like?"

"Well, I don't want you to get a swelled head about how well you kiss, you know."

He smiled at that and then stilled. "You're not going to share that with your brothers are you?"

"Oh no, I like you with kneecaps."

He was only half sure that Moira was joking. "Hey, so when you were in your back bedroom threatening Connor, what was that?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. I'll beat you with a shovel. Don't make me tell mom about that time you snuck into the Windgate...again. Blackmail stuff."

He also made a note not to incriminate himself to Moira. She might be vindictive. "No, I mean what were you yelling at him in. I...it wasn't quite...it reminded me a little of Latin but not really either."

Moira stopped and blinked back at him. "What?"

"Whatever you were speaking, it wasn't English."

"Well, you know, modern age, polyglot for a resume..."

"Moira, my family's traveled through Europe for a lot of stuff. I can't quite place that."

She sighed and started picking at her cuticles. "It's, um, Eastern Europe, one of those countries that's not a country anymore since the Iron Curtain fell, you know? That's where my dad and Aunt Kara and Jacks's dad are all from. It's sort of how you might think of Jacks as like very distantly related. I mean, same country, you know?"

"Right. So which country?"

"Um, it's not around anymore so it doesn't matter much. It's just Aunt Kara taught us the language when we were little and it's more fun to cuss someone out if the rest of the world can't follow you, so when I'm really mad at Con, that's how he usually gets it. Kind of worked both ways. Before we really knew it, Aunt Kara used to always yell at dad in it."

"Family traditions?"

Moira rolled her eyes and looked back out of the passenger window. "I'd like to think not. I'm trying to break a bit from tradition."


	2. Chapter 2

2

Kevin really didn't like Connor. The fact that, ostensibly, he was supposed to live in New York but was over at Moira's room about every other weekend didn't help either. It began to feel overcrowded in the relationship real fast. He'd like to at least be able to write all of Connor's angry glares and death threats as big brother posturing but Kevin got the uncomfortable feeling that Connor really did have the power to make him disappear if he wanted to.

It made a guy nervous.

Add to that the fact that Moira absolutely adored him just dug everything in deeper. Yes, he got that she was close with her family. Kevin liked his younger brothers a lot too. He just didn't let them practically take up residence in his apartment.

As cloying as Connor and, yes, Jackson could be, Kevin had to admit that he liked Alura very much. Perhaps it was because she subscribed to the school of giving Moira space or maybe it was because it wasn't the older cousin's job to threaten his life. He didn't know. But Alura was as accommodating and cheerful as Connor was rude.

Like take tonight. They were into March and Moira was busy this particular week working on a story on the sewage workers' pending strike as well as helping galvanize the campus-wide blood drive. Kevin once asked Moira if she ever slept and she'd answered him honestly that she didn't. He thought she'd been joking, but the girl had to be on some serious uppers at the very least or have a world class metabolism. He knew med school students and kids cramming for LSATs who slept more than his girlfriend did.

He let himself into her room (she'd had a key made, perk of being president and tight with the house mother) and sighed when he found Alura frowning back at him from Moira's futon.

"Hi, you weren't on the schedule."

Alura nodded and stood up. Whenever he got a look at her, Kevin always found himself breathless. Moira was pretty. She had gorgeous auburn hair that, if he didn't know better, he'd have said came straight from her grandmother. Added to that was a great figure and, frankly, fabulous, ahem, assets. However, Moira was conventionally attractive. Alura could have been on any catwalk in New York by tomorrow morning, if she wanted.

Moira barely came up to his shoulder. Alura was only a few inches shorter than he was and with her high cheekbones and golden curls...she was missing out. The funniest thing about Alura, the thing that put him at ease with her, was that she didn't know she was pretty. He'd grown up in the high society of Metropolis. He'd known far more heiresses than any man should be inflicted with. Most pretty girls not only knew they were pretty but relished in manipulating that to get everything they wanted.

Alura didn't.

In fact, she was wearing a pair of oversized overalls and had her hair pulled back in pigtails. Judging by the dust collected on her clothes, he was going to guess she'd come straight from work.

"How's the restoration coming?"

Alura grinned. "Dr. Willowbrook and I are making good progress actually. I was just over there and...right. Sorry, I promise I'm not all sweaty. I just got carried away and then Mo called and I promised to cover for her."

"What?"

"The meeting ran late again. Stupid sophomore class president didn't like the flier designs. Anyway, so not the point. She just wanted me to let you know."

"She couldn't have texted me?"

Alura's eyes went wide. "Um, her phone battery was really low when she called me. So I did her the favor."

"You're a really good cousin then. Granville is seventy miles from here."

"Right, well, I needed some research materials from the Met U library anyway and, you know what? I just...she'll be here shortly. She just didn't want you to think she was flaking since she had to cancel that thing last week for when my mom broke her ankle and she had to rush to the SMC."

"I thought it was shin."

"What?"

"Shin, I thought your mom broke her shin."

"Oh, right, well compound fracture, you know. Anyway, Moira's coming so don't worry. But I've gotta get to the library and get the goods for Dr. Willowbrook. I suck up to him enough and I just might make tenure."

"Alura?"

"Really, gotta go. Hey, she has cable. Perk of presidential office, you know? Just watch for a few minutes and I'm sure she'll be back."

"Sure...I...is everything okay?"

Alura nodded. "Moira's just really over committed but she's coming, promise." And with that, her cousin hurried out the door.

Kevin sighed and slouched down onto the sofa. A quick look at CNN wouldn't hurt. He was working up on this final project about venture capital and keeping abreast of the stock feed was always helpful. Of course, they weren't on the stock feed. It was one of those nights.

Things weren't like they were when he'd been a kid. He was from Metropolis. There'd always been whispers about Lowell County, but they'd seemed like Urban Legends at the time. Then things had sprung up about thirty years ago in Gotham. Men made out of Clay, monsters half crocodile and half human. Things the press had dubbed meta and a man or myth-who was even sure nowadays-called The Batman. Things had started going to Hell after that. But they were still whispers. Gotham was Gotham. It had always been bizarre, always that vanguard on the threshold of crime.

Yes, Metropolis had whispers of mutants, of something that had gone wrong long ago with the meteor showers, and then there was something else. Before Kevin had even been born, there'd been talk, nothing more substantial than the rumbling of the Batman, about what the citizens of Metropolis called "The Ghost." A vigilante for the Big Apricot.

Funniest thing was no one could decide anything about it. Sometimes it was a woman, sometimes the people saved swore it had been a man. Same M.O.-impossible feats of strength and speed-but nothing else ever seemed to agree. People thought there might have been at least two of them.

Turns out they were right.

About twenty years ago, The Batman and the ghosts of Metropolis stopped being urban legends. Instead, the Justice League when public and the Batman, as well as people like the Green Arrow, Wonder Woman and both Superman and Superwoman (once Supergirl but renamed after a second girl had come onto the scene years ago) became front page news. Once upon a time, anyone would have called you crazy for insisting Amazon goddesses, aliens like the Green Lanterns, or mutants existed.

Now it was fodder for primetime.

The footage this time was from Tokyo, some kind of fallout from a tsunami. Superman was there, along with Wonder Woman, and sometimes Kevin wondered about those two. Hell, half the guys in his classes wondered too. A throwdown with her...would've been interesting to say the least. He had a feeling Superwoman was related to him, at least their powers were the same, the colors and symbols of their uniform similar. No one knew much about them, frankly. He'd given a few very vague soundbites to Lois Lane of the Daily Planet (she was like an unofficial press agent), but they didn't mention much of anything. Hell, Wonder Woman talked about Themiscyra and The Manthunter was more than happy to proclaim himself a Martian.

Superman and his cohorts...they were just quiet. Considering they came from Metropolis, they could be what some people called Smallville specials. Or they could be something else entirely. Kevin was pretty sure there were at least five of them. Superman and Superwoman who'd been around like seemed like forever by now, but, more recently, Supergirl (who looked so similar to Superwoman it was hard to tell them apart, save for the mask she wore and the more demure skirt). Then there was The Phoenix (not to be confused with Fawkes) and a newer one, a girl slighter than Supergirl, who'd only been around for the last three years or so, the Flamebird.

Who came up with these names anyway?

Right now he was watching a repeat newsreel of Superman, Superwoman and the Flamebird trying desperately to redirect the flood waters. Lucky for Tokyo, they had.

He was engrossed in the spectacle, when Moira coughed behind him. "Wow, someone is easily entertained."

"Oh, hey. How was the epic tragedy?"

Moira stilled. "The what?"

"The great flier debacle? Alura stopped by to say you were having problems getting out advertisements for the blood drive."

Moira blinked. "The...right, yeah. I hate the junior class president so much."

He frowned. "She said it was the sophomore."

"Yeah, but the junior backed the fuscia is a good idea campaign. I mean, color blind much?" She replied, sliding down next to him on the sofa. "So, you can't be so into this stuff. It's crap."

"You work for the Daily Planet."

"That's my point. Sound bytes are killing print journalism where the real stories are. If you want to know something, read the DP. If it's breaking news, at least get an online subscription. Don't just settle for CNN like a sheep!"

"Wow and that's your soap box of the day."

"Exactly. I thought you wanted to do dinner in town," Moira insisted, turning off the television. "All the comic book crap can wait."

"It's a little more real than the X-Men."

"Don't doubt it and it's made a very good living for Aunt Lois and Uncle Jimmy. Not the point. That's just not my beat so much. I mean, city hall stuff is less glamorous than spandex but equally important."

"That's slightly bitter."

She shrugged. "There's more to the news than Superman, I promise you."

"Oh, I agree."

She quirked her head at him. "You do?"

He nodded. "I just...the League seems like a good idea in theory."

"In theory? Like the way communism works in theory?"

And now she sounded kind of shrill.

"Exactly, but in practice. What's actually keeping someone like Wonder Woman or The Manhunter from making themself a dictator. I mean, seriously, look at Superman and his whole clan."

"The too much primary colors? I know, it's very family circus," she joked weakly.

"No, I'm just saying that's a lot of power in one place, just one of them. All five? It's terrifying."

Moira swallowed and answered very quietly. "It is. So dinner?"

"Sure," he replied, kissing her cheek. "Hey, do you have mud behind your ear?"

She rolled her eyes. "Last time I sign up for facial night."

He sniffed. "That's...wow...it smells like kelp."

"And on a sorority discount budget. Like I said, bad idea. So dinner?"


	3. Chapter 3

3

III. Intimacy

"So, man, seriously, you've been dating that Kent chick for six months. Tell me she puts out."

Kevin narrowed his eyes at Nick. They'd been fraternity brothers as undergraduates and ended up sharing a house not too far from Central Park in the nicer section of Metropolis. In fact, he had a few other ex-brothers who were splitting rent with him. And almost all of them had the same refrain, kept prodding him about Moira, because she was beautiful and popular, but her reputation preceded her. She was good at being the life of the party and she had a tolerance for alcohol that was legendary at her sorority, but she wasn't the type with a notch collection in her bed post either.

Kevin thought it was sweet to find one girl not addicted to the hook up culture and, yeah, maybe he was a little territorial too. It was kind of intoxicating to have a girl whom he know no other guy had touched. It just made her feel more special to him.

"It's none of your business."

"Ooh, that's a no. All that fuss and fancy dinners on your dad's credit card and she won't let you slide on home. Tell me you're at least rounding some bases. Getting a bj or something, dude."

Kevin resisted the urge to punch him in the face. "It's not any of your business."

"And that's a 'no,' too. What exactly do you do? What hold hands? Go steady? God, is it 1955 or what?"

"First, I respect Moira."

"And that's like a first for you. Back in the day, you used to rule Kappa Beta."

"And I'm also 23 and not 18, unlike some of us, I can remember that much."

"But you're still dating an ice princess, man. It's unlike you to stick with something that long."

"Things change. Besides, Moira's special."

"In the way that she totally turned you into a chick."

"No, she's just different. There aren't any other girls like her."

"Tons of them on sorority row."

"It's the wrong attitude man. Moira's worth it. Besides, have you met her brothers? They are not the kind of guys you want to piss off."

"See, then you're not pussy whipped. You're big brother whipped. And it's weak man. Don't you ever want anything more. I mean, I used to time you. A week tops before some young thing sneaks down here in your t-shirt and nothing else. Six months? You're screwed and not in the good way. I'd cut my losses."

"I don't want to, thanks, and one day you might want to try actually growing up."

"Uh-huh," Nick finished, taking a swig of beer. "Keep telling yourself that."

"I do love her and it is worth it."

"Right, don't tell me. I'm not the one hard up."

Moira was very good at kissing. It was a skill she excelled at. Feather light kisses down his throat, a nibble on the ear, the hurried sucking against his throat. She was downright devilish at what she did. Kevin was enjoying it again, feeling her lips trail down to the pulse point in his throat when he yawned.

Moira pulled back and giggled. "Well, if I'm that boring. I can always stop."

"No, Moira, it's not that at all. It's just that it's almost one and I've been studying for a final and it's just been a long night."

Moira's eyes widened. "One? Oh man. I have got to get on home. I have an early lab and I just...it's too late."

"Moira," he started, sitting up. "You could just spend the night. We're five minutes from campus. You'll make it."

"Yeah, right, and I have no clothes for her. I'm gross."

"I don't care, sleep naked." Moira smacked him then and he started rubbing his arm. She was pretty strong for a girl. "No, I didn't mean it like that. You're in a t-shirt. It'll be wrinkled but no reason you can't crash as you are."

"But I just can't...being here. I just can't."

"I'm not asking you to sleep with me like that. I wouldn't pressure you, I promise, but sleeping next to? Come on, we've been dating for six months and you won't even spend the night. I get that you have a house mother so it's out for the Pi Phi Epsilon house. But here? I'd like to see more than your back as you leave."

She straightened up and hopped off his lap. "I don't always leave. It's past midnight."

"And you're 21, not 12. Seriously, if you're not willing to bend a little..."

"And sleeping next to you has to be bending? It's just a way to ease into something I'm not ready for."

"It's not!" he insisted, standing up. "I said I didn't care but other girls at least spend the night. I see you little enough as it is. It's always a meeting."

Moira stilled. "We don't meet-"

"There's always some sorority emergency or student council or last minute Planet thing. I don't see why I shouldn't want to spend time with you when I have the chance. What's so wrong with sleeping next to me?"

"I just...I've never done it before. With anyone," she replied, pacing. "Just not tonight."

"Will it be ever?"

She stopped and looked back at him. "What?"

"Will it be ever? We've been in this holding pattern for three months and we never go forward unless you say so. So when will you ever say so?"

"I don't know, just not now."

"So you make all the rules?"

"No, but I need time, Kevin."

"For what? Either you are ready to go further with me or your not."

"Then I just...it's complicated!" She shouted and something loud crashed.

He rolled his eyes. "Perfect, I bet Nick broke his bong again. I hate when that happens."

Moira looked pale. "What?"

"Nick. Being high and glass don't actually match."

"Oh, right. I just...I can't right now. I have to go."

"Well, then you'll call me when you want to."

"I..."

"When you say. Moira, if you leave, don't come back." He hadn't meant for that to come out that way, but she'd put every rule in their relationship and he was sick of it. He wanted to call the shots for once. He was the man here, damn it. Wasn't he supposed to be in charge?

She nodded and she was already sniffling. "You don't mean that."

"I think maybe I do."

She swallowed. "Please don't."

"Then you'll stay?"

"I can't."

"Right then," he said, nudging her by the shoulder to door. "Goodbye, Moira."

"Kevin!"

He clicked the door behind her. Something crashed again and he knocked on the wall. "Nick, could you not. I'm not taking you for stitches again." When no one answered, Kevin checked the room next door. Nick's bed was still...well, not made...but he wasn't lying in the nest of afghans either.

Confused, Kevin went back to his own room, only when he came back through the door, did he notice the shattered lamp by the kitchen counter.


	4. Chapter 4

4

The first three days after his fight with Moira, Kevin was barraged with more voice messages than he could count. It got to the point where he didn't bother to check them. She was giving him the hard sell, not meeting with him, although he suspected that would come too. If she'd just put half that effort into actually being around, then things would be different. But he didn't want to budge. He wanted things on his terms for once and not hers.

So the voicemails went unanswered.

They stopped within the week and that worked out well. He had graduated and was working at his father's firm and things...well, they were chaotic that week. Sometimes, it annoyed him how tied Gotham was to Metropolis. When something unusual happened in Gotham-and it was a city protected by a giant bat so something unusual was always going on-the markets in Metropolis tended to go crazy. It was one of those weeks, this time something he thought with the Joker. It was enough trouble to have some of the more frontline members of the League there.

The Batman and Superman and even the Flamebird.

It didn't matter much to him what happened in Gotham or with those of the bright spandex, but he wished the bottom line wasn't getting so messed up in the interrim.

He was walking uptown from a meeting at LuthorCorp, crossing through Central Park, when Jackson stepped up to him.

Kevin sighed and rolled his eyes. "I'm expected back. Deadlines."

Jacks narrowed his eyes. "I know how it is on the clock, believe me."

"I thought you were at MIT."

"There are clocks there," he deadpanned. "I guess it's not high pressure like the financial district, but I do some stuff on the side that can be pretty intense."

"Theoretical physics, right."

"Hey it's like a contact sport," Jacks replied. "So, I have to tell you, everything's been thrown for a loop with you."

"I told Moira it was over. I didn't think she'd send people who broke kneecaps after me."

Jacks grinned and it wasn't pleasant. "If I wanted to do that, you'd have no clue until I was done. Besides, Con's the threatening type. I mean, I mostly spy and make sure no guy does what I would generally do. So far, you've been very on the up and up. This though? So not cool."

"Moira's the one who set all the limits on everything. She made the calls."

"And I'm pretty sure breaking up was not the call she wanted."

"Okay, so if this the 'Moira's hurt' spiel, I suspect it would be coming from Alura. I know her better."

"Alura's out of town right now," Jacks replied. "Con's ecstatic because he never liked you and Mo's pretty much a basket case. I mean, she's still keeping up with school but I didn't know it was possible to cry that much. I'd heard stories about Chloe, but Mo lapped her a few times."

"I know but it wasn't working out."

"I got that much out of her in between a lot of snotting and mumbled stuff that only Alura can translate. That's not enough. What exactly wasn't working?"

He paused and leaned against a park bench. "I don't think this is the kind of conversation I can have with her 'brother.'"

Jackson's shoulders went rigid and, for just a split second, Kevin thought the other man's eyes flashed russet. God, he needed more sleep. "So Mo didn't put out? You are so lucky I'm not Con. I'm more of a pacifist."

"Who jumps to conclusions. It isn't about that. I'm not going to lie and say it's not frustrating-"

"Older brother."

"But it's everything else. She's always busy, even more than a reporter at the DP."

"Well, they live and breathe the newsprint."

"But it's always an excuse. It's like dating air, almost."

"You know," Jacks started, "The way Lur tells it, Mo's almost always over at your place."

"But she never stays and I'm not talking in the sense that you'd have to beat me up for. I just meant spending the night. Half the time she runs out of my apartment at one or two AM instead of just crashing even on my couch. It's like she doesn't trust me."

Jacks stilled at that. "So it's not about sex?"

Kevin decided to tread carefully. He wanted to take their relationship to another level, but he'd just settle for her not rabbiting off all the time. "Not really. It's about trust, feeling needed or at least not ignored."

Jacks considered him. "We don't stay overnight."

"We? Are you speaking like a cult thing now?" He snorted. "Moira has a big mouth."

"Doubtful."

"Well, at least your reputation proceeds you. You've been busy, Jacks."

"I don't spend the night. It's fun and a good time that Mo and Alura should never have is had by me and that particular lucky lady, but I don't spend the night. Con won't and neither will the girls."

"The girls are 22 and what? Alura's thirty?"

"Something like that and it's traditional. Family custom."

"That Moira doesn't have to follow. If you guys have some crazy religious thing, which with your record, you probably don't."

"We have things we won't usually do. This just happens to be one of them. We don't sleepover."

"Well, you obviously break that rule unless her dad and her aunt have a separate house going on."

"But it takes a very long time. We just...we're private."

"Which can be lonely. I want to share whatever it is she wants to tell me, but I don't like being left out in the cold either. She's amazing, not like any other girl I've ever dated. But-"

"Of course there's a but."

"But she's not like any other girl I've ever dated."

"Some would say that's a good thing," he replied, shrugging. "Oh and my mom and dad? Total timeshare agreement, at least in practice."

"That's it? That's the talk?"

"No, the rest of that is 'you're an idiot. Mo's awesome. And you should grovel a lot.' But I have a life as busy as yours, so I don't have time to say it in lecture format. I'm just saying that if you gave this a shot and worked with Mo, then it would be pretty amazing." He shook his head. "She's the best of us."

"I just...it's hard."

"Well the easy ones are boring," Jacks replied. "I should know. I've done all of them."

As prosaic big brother words of wisdom went, those sucked.

Kevin was flipping through the television stations that night. Going from CNN to MSNBC to Fox News made him wonder when the circus had come to town. You couldn't flip through the dial without seeing one of the League. He wondered if people even remembered what life had been like with just police. Most of it came from The Batman and what he'd done to revolutionize Gotham. But the rest?

He suspected first The Ghost and then Superman had done the rest.

Great PR job, if ever he'd seen one.

The local station was just giving its nightly endorsement of the man in question, when someone knocked on his door. Sighing, Kevin stood up and opened the door and was surprised to find Moira standing in front of him.

"So you decided to stop calling?"

She was sniffling a little and he felt like an ass for answering her with sarcasm. "Jacks said you too had a talk."

"Yeah, we did and come in, Moira." He ushered her in, placing a hand on the flat of her back. "You look wrecked."

She sniffled again and curled onto his sofa. Sometimes he forgot how little she was. Con and Alura were clearly Kents, just annoyingly tall. Moira looked like her mom or he thought so from all the pictures he'd seen of her. She was petite but it never felt like it, not with how determined Moira could be, how fierce. But now was one of those times she looked so small and fragile, with her knees pulled up to her chin and her arms wrapped around herself.

"I usually do better with the no sleep, but even I'm not feeling so sunshiney lately."

"I'm sorry. Jacks said a lot of things I hadn't thought about."

"Did he say you were an ass?"

Kevin laughed and sat down next to her. "I think his death glares implied it."

Moira rubbed at her nose. "You were definitely an ass and I owe Jacks a cookie."

"You might. Moira, I didn't know how, I guess, strict your family is."

She frowned a little. "Strict?"

"The lack of sleepovers? I don't know how Jacks and his stuff fits into that. But I didn't realize how hard it might be in your family. I guess there are customs?"

Moira looked down at her hands. "Not exactly, but when Jacks talked to me...you're not wrong. I haven't trusted you with a lot of things and I can't expect it to always be about what I want and when I say. It's not how my mom and dad work or Aunt Kara and Uncle Jimmy."

"And I'm not asking for everything all at once, nothing that would make Connor and Jackson kill me."

She giggled and he'd missed that sound. "I know and that's what's so sweet about you. But I do want to spend the night."

"Really?"

She nodded and reached up to trace her fingers over his wrist. "I mean it. I even brought a toothbrush and everything."

"I was very afraid about morning breath, then. Way to be a Boy Scout, Moira."

"It runs in the family," she quipped, trying to bring her hand back to her lap. It was then that something glinting on her right wrist caught his eye.

He reached out to catch the band on her arm. "Is this new?"

Moira stilled and stared down at the heavy bracelet. "No, it's actually pretty old. Um, it's something dad got from Con's mom."

"Your mom, you mean."

She nodded and pulled her sleeve over the thick band. "Yeah, sorry, I'm not thinking clearly, you know."

"I can guess. It's nice, almost glows in the light. Are they sapphires?"

"Something like that."


	5. Chapter 5

5

Kevin wasn't sure what had happened. He wasn't sure how one fight and the seeming dissolution of their relationship had led to one of the best months of his life. He wondered if Jacks had talked to Moira after he'd seen him in Central Park. Could be that someone had put a little sense in her. Not that he expected Jacks to promote anything really intense between her and him. He's her "brother," after all. But the change in Mo, how open she was felt refreshing.

It wasn't sexual, not really, but it was amazing to be able to be intimate with her, to have her trust him enough to spend the night with him.

He was lying there, watching Moira sleep. She always looked small and fragile like that, even younger than she was. It was the only time he knew her to be quiet. The rest of the day, she was zipping around, her mind focused on a million different things-the Planet, her school stuff, her sorority, him too. But when she slept, she looked so peaceful. Oddly, slightly more pale than usual but restful in a way she just wasn't during the day.

Kevin read the paper like anyone else, mostly the business section, but he read it. He'd never thought much about how it was made or how it was produced, never wondered about the pressure even a basement intern would be under. Sometimes, often actually, it seemed like Moira had the weight of the world on her shoulders. As far as he knew, she had the City Hall minutia beat. He didn't get how tense she always seemed.

But she looked relaxed now, lying limply in his arms. He stroked her right arm, letting his fingers stray across the cool metal of her bracelet. He hadn't seen her without it in a month and he couldn't really say why she wore it. It wasn't her sorority colors. It wasn't even a color palette that she liked. Mo, as Nick had often sniped, seemed to come from a kindergarten. Not that the reds and royal blues didn't look great on her. They did. It was just predictable. The band on her wrist was brighter than that though, a glinting turquoise. It clashed with almost everything she owned.

It wasn't just that. It was ugly, not a fashion statement in any way. A thick lead-and he was almost positive that was what the dull metal was-cuff and the vaguely pulsating gem. Since when did jewelry pulsate at all. Hell, when did it hum? But Moira refused to be anywhere without it.

He wondered if her arm were sore weighed down by it. Wondered if he could get her a better bracelet, anything to replace it. Reaching over he twisted the band around, searching for a clasp, for any way to take it off. It was oddly twisted as if something had broken it before. What shredded through a cuff three inches thick.

She had to get it on some way.

Kevin, deftly, oh-so-deftly, started pushing it over her wrist. It was so large, obviously hadn't ever been intended for Moira at all. He had it off her wrist and placed by the night stand. He blinked several times when he realized the stone in its center was no longer vibrant.

"God that's ugly," he whispered to himself.

Moira's head shot up instantly. "What's going on? I heard...wait."

Kevin frowned back at her. "Wow, you must have hearing like a beagle. I was just whispering. You should go back to sleep."

She looked back at him. "Something feels wrong."

"Nothing's wrong beside it being 3 AM."

"No," she replied. "Something's not right." Glancing down at her wrist, Moira dropped her jaw. "You took it off?"

"It looked uncomfortable. I thought you'd sleep better without it."

"Have I slept better without it in the last four weeks?"

"No, but it looks so bulky. Moira, you don't have to wear it."

"You took it off."

"We established that."

"You just slipped it off and why would you do that?"

"Because I was trying to make you more comfortable. What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that it was...nevermind," she said, slipping the band back on. "I'm not very tired anymore. I think I'll head back to the house and start working on plans for the formal."

"It's 3 AM."

"And I'm not sleepy now," she huffed, jumping up and pulling on her jeans under his t-shirt.

"You can't go back to the house at 3 AM. It's Metropolis, not Smallville. It's dangerous out there and there are tons of creeps just waiting for a girl who does something stupid."

Moira stuck her hands on her hips. "I can definitely handle myself."

"Since when? I know your Aunt Lois is a third degree blackbelt but you're not. And bullets are bullets. You can't do anything if you got mugged."

"I'm not staying here. I can't even trust you."

"It's a piece of jewelry! Why are you getting so upset about this?"

"Because it's mine and I've told you a dozen times that I like wearing it. You just...it's very important."

"What's it made of Moira?" He asked coolly, pulling the sheet up to his chest.

"What?"

"It glows only when you wear it. What's it made of?"

"I don't know. Like I said, it's an heirloom from my dad. He didn't exactly get a receipt with the gift." Moira was staring directly at him, her eyes never wavered or wandered off, but he still got the feeling she was telling him a lie.

Moira excelled at those.

"No, what's it made of. I thought it was turquoise but it's not. Is it one of those meteor rocks. I didn't even know they came in blue."

"I don't know. If it was, would it matter?"

"Not much, just that with all the Smallville Specials out of the closet, it's pretty clear meteor rocks are mutagens. Why the Hell would you take the chance in wearing one?"

"And they've been used as costume jewelry in my hometown for years and not everyone there is a 'Smallville Special.'" She spat; it wasn't a confirmation but she wasn't really denying it was a meteor rock anymore either. "My brother's best friend is meteor infected. So's Maddie Wilson, the artist? She used to babysit both of us and she's like a big sister to me. There were a lot of kids in my school who are too and that term? That's pretty low."

"Moira, I slipped up. It's not like there's one of them around to hear me."

She snorted. "Fine, you know what. Whatever. I'm going home. I'll call my Aunt Lois. She lives in the city and she'll come get me. I'm not staying here."

"Because I didn't go all PC and say 'meteor infected.' Come on!"

"I'll talk to you tomorrow. Maybe then you won't keep doing stuff even I ask you not to. Maybe then you won't want to insult Cassie or Maddie."

"I didn't-"

"It doesn't matter," she finished, scooping up her purse. "I don't want to do this now. I'm waiting downstairs, okay?"

"Moira-"

"I'll call you," she snapped, slamming the door behind her. This time, the clock by his bed cracked.

"The Hell?"

"Dude, can you and Moira practice the ancient art of not fighting?" Nick complained the next day. "First there's all this shouting-totally killing my buzz-at ass early in the morning. Then today you've lived on the cell, apologizing to her voice mail. Like I said, way too much effort for a girl who doesn't put out."

"I didn't say that."

"Thin walls. You two play chess instead of fuck?"

"Crude," Matt said, shaking his head and sliding down onto the sofa as far away as possible from Nick. Matt was an up and comer at his dad's firm. He might have, just a little, gotten that way by being Kevin's fraternity brother and dearest college friend. He'd grown up. Nick hadn't yet and it was beginning to wear thin between them now that college was well and truly over. It was wearing a lot on Kevin too. He didn't need to hear more complaints about Moira. It's not like Nick was dating her.

"None of your business," Kevin snapped.

"And, dude, that's a no. Seriously, though, what the Hell do you do? Every time you two argue something gets smashed. First there was the lamp which you tried to blame on me, even though that wasn't my fault. Then what? I heard something crack again."

"My clock face is shattered, no big deal."

"No big deal," Matt echoed.

"What?"

"You ever think Moira's too defensive? All those rules? That ugly-"

"Fugly, dude," Nick added.

"Yes, that, ahem, 'fugly' bracelet she's always wearing. The rules about sleepovers. How she's so damn evasive."

"She's not evasive," Kevin defended, although Matt was voicing all the things that had been going around in his head since Moira had gotten upset about that whole Smallville Special thing.

"She's a liar," Matt noted. "I ran into Angie. She was actually on the blood drive committee for the school. Moira was never on it."

"What?"

"Moira was never on it. She was never on student government at all. So what the Hell was she doing when she was at all the meetings."

Nick snorted. "Dude, who was she doing? You got screwed and not in the good way."

"Then she probably lied so she could sneak off to do more stuff at the Daily Planet. She's addicted to it."

"Huh," Matt said.

"What?"

"Just 'huh.' You have to admit Moira's about the half-truths at the least. Nick mentioned she was shouting about what's the best thing to call one of those meteor freaks."

"Well, her grandmother's name is all over the meta rights legislation. Her mom won a pulitzer for an article about it being passed. Her family's all about the activism."

Matt considered that. "Did you ever think that's because her family might have a personal stake in it. Senator Kent was so adamant on meta rights when no one else even wanted to admit they existed. If I were running the odds..."

Kevin frowned. "What are you saying?"

"Dude, I get it. I know exactly what he's talking about. Moira's totally a meteor freak. Nice taste."

Kevin scrunched up his face the same way he used to do when his nanny tried to force brussel sprouts on him. "Take that back. Moira's not some freak."

Matt shrugged. "I'm not saying she's a horrible person, if you like that sort of thing. I'm just saying that the transparent lies, the defensiveness about meteor mutants, the odd things that keep happening with her...you have to admit it's a distinct possibility."

"No way. I'd know."

"Not if she didn't want you too. You're at least going to ask her how everything you own keeps getting smashed without anyone actually smashing it. I think that would be a smart thing to do."

"There's nothing wrong with her," Kevin gritted out.

"Is that trying to convince us or yourself?" Nick asked.

"You, asshole. Moira is great. So shut up and just watch some TV, okay?"

"Sweet Baywatch rerun," Nick replied and then he groaned. "Or we're gonna have to watch some special report about the Justice League."

"What now? You ever notice how we didn't have supervillains until we had superheroes," Matt complained.

He had noticed that, but he hated giving Matt the pleasure of hearing he was right sometimes.

"And what's it today? The Joker? Maybe some kind of wizard? Just a usual run from Arkham?" Matt drolled.

"Shh," Kevin replied. It looked like more than even an escape from Arkham. It was in downtown Metropolis and it was clearly Legion of Doom stuff, and the League, even with Superman, the Phoenix, and the Flamebird was being outclassed.

"You know, this is almost better than Baywatch. I mean, all that spandex. Like the Flamebird's chest? Totally amazing."

"I said shut up," Kevin snapped. He didn't know all that much about the League. Supergirl or Wonderwoman or the Manhunter all stuck out. They were famous worldwide, but there were other ones. As he watched some large gorilla thing-and what the Hell was that-smashed into something in a green leotard. "What was that?"

"Gorilla Grodd and one of the Green Lanterns. I can't keep track of all their names. Alien of some sort, that's why it roughly looks like some kind of pig," Nick said.

"What?"

"I can care about stuff and the JLU is cool. Like I said, superpowers and hot chicks in spandex."

"Oh," Kevin watched, not feeling up to sharing much more. Not as he watched the lantern-whatever the Hell it was-clearly bleed to death on the pavement. He didn't care much for the League, but it was a chilling site to watch it die and even worse to see the Flamebird cradling it as it stopped breathing.

Moira was on his bed when he went up to the room. He had no idea how she'd gotten in there. He had not idea why he hadn't heard her come in. He'd been in the living room the entire time. All he knew was that she looked like Hell. Her eyes were red, her face was splotchy, and she was crying softly to herself.

"Moira?"

Her voice was so quiet when she spoke. "I didn't know where else to go."

He dropped his briefcase and rushed over to the bed. "What happened? God, you smell awful."

She sniffled. "Thanks. I appreciate that."

"No, I meant like smoke. Was there a fire or, God, were you downtown?"

She nodded. "I was helping one of my uncles with something and you saw what happened down there. We were in the middle of it and then he got hit and he...he died."

"Moira, I'm sorry," he said, cradling her in his arms, all thoughts of her lies or their arguments gone. He just wanted her to feel better. "What can I do?"

She looked back at him. "Not much. I tried...I couldn't...I don't know why I couldn't save him."

"It's not your fault. You can't control what all those nuts put people in the middle of. The League causes more trouble than its worth."

She nodded and clutched him tighter. "I think sometimes you're right."

"Shh," he said, rocking her and stroking her hair. "What do you need?"

She surprised him by kissing him. "Just you."

"Moira?"

She stared back at him, her eyes a mix of sorrow and half-lidded lust. "I don't want to wait anymore."

"Not to be ungrateful with the offer but your uncle just died and you watched it happen. I really don't think this is a good idea."

She shook her head. "No, I need this because of what I saw. Please. I never should have held off this long."

"Moira, I-" She was on him them, climbing into his lap, kissing him deeply. And when did she get so strong. She had his arms practically pinned behind him. Not that he was complaining. He'd been waiting for what felt like forever for this. She was soft and flush against him, so amazing in his lap, in his hands.

"Don't think," she said, kissing him again.

So he didn't.

He woke up to hear noise coming from the kitchen and to find Moira gone from her side of the bed. "Moira?"

Hopping up, he pulled on his bathrobe and his long pajama pants and then headed downstairs. He rolled his eyes when he found Connor downstairs in his kitchen arguing with her.

"What the Hell, Mo? Do you want to explain it to me?"

"It's nothing," she hissed.

Thinking over everything in the last few days, of how clandestine everything with Moira and her family was, Kevin decided to slink back. Leaning back behind the swinging door to the kitchen, he waited and listened.

"It seems like a lot of something," Con bit back. "You just bailed yesterday. There's stuff to be taken care of."

"Not by me. That's stuff for mom and dad, for Uncle Ollie and Aunt Dinah. It's not my job, Con. I'm still in college."

"And you're not supposed to just run out on this stuff for what? Some cheap sex."

Moira narrowed her eyes and pulled Kevin's t-shirt down lower. "It wasn't cheap. We've been dating for seven months, Kon-El, and I really love him."

"Yeah, he's really charming. Jacks told me all about this passive-aggressive act of his. It's so like my mom. You know it is."

"It's not. It's nothing like that and you're just being a jerk. You're trying to control my life. I'm 22, not four, Con, and I'm not letting you do it anymore."

"Mo, it's not...you should listen to me more. Why do I have to play Aunt Kara in all of this."

"Aunt Kara backed off and gave dad space. You tell me how much Kevin sucks every time I see you."

"I don't say it in so many words."

"No, you do and you don't even know him."

Con huffed. "Investment banking or stocks or whatever. Metropolis blue blood. Frat type. I think I have him pegged, Mo."

"That's not fair. You can't just make assumptions about people because of what they do. How would that be fair to any of us? To Cassie or Maddie? Saying all business people are just like Lex Luthor is as bad as saying every meta you meet should be in Belle Reve or Arkham."

"I'm not judging by the Luthors," Con defended. "I just...Mo, why can't you get this? Why do you have to be so dad about everything?"

"I'm not."

"Mo, there's a reason you waited this late. There's a reason you two have so many fights."

Moira looked around and lowered her voice. When she spoke again, it only surprised him a little that it was in her family's native language. " Acum din sangre. You know that's true."

"Well, then, the sangre isn't ever going to change. Mo, let Jacks just set you up. He knows everybody."

"Understatement."

"Don't do this."

She narrowed her eyes at him again. "It's seven AM and he'll be up soon and I can't explain why you're here when you're supposed to be in New York."

"Oh I can think of one very valid way. You're just a frica ."

"I'm not afraid," she replied, but Kevin could see her frown, her hesitance. "Just leave, Con. You're not welcome here."

"I can do that but I'm here to go over some things with you. Everything's sort of jumbled right now with the scheduling and Uncle Bruce wanted to see if you can cover this weekend. With all the arrangements and out of town guests-"

"No."

"What? You're the best in a pinch, Mo."

"I said no. Get dad to yell at me or, hell, Uncle Bruce could actually let Jacks do something useful. I need a break for a while."

"For him?"

"No, Con. For a lot of things. I had to watch it. I need time away from that. If Uncle Bruce has a problem well, then, the last thing anyone wants to do is deal with me when I'm pissed off, not even Aunt Kara."

Con shook his head. "I'll tell him but this isn't going to make everything better and it certainly isn't going to make life seem normal. It's not a cure all."

"It's something, Con. Now, like I said, get back to New York or Smallville. I am not explaining you to Kevin."

"Have you explained anything?"

"He's not Cassie and you've managed to fuck that up at least twice over. Go away."

Her brother sighed and slammed a palm against the counter. " Futui le am ."

"No, fuck you. Now go home. Don't make me make you."

Con curled up his lip. "You won't get far with that thing on your wrist. I'm so telling mom and dad."

"Don't care. I'm happy and you should be happy for me."

"Congrats on your brilliant life choices, Mo, and you're an idiot."

"I don't think she's an anything," Kevin said, stepping into the kitchen. "You woke me up."

"I'm sorry," Con said. "I had wanted to just get some of my baby sister's attention. But Kents were never good at listening. Mo, Kevin." And he just had to say it like his name was synonymous with cockroach, didn't he. With that, Con stomped his way to the door and slammed it shut behind him.

"That was pleasant," Kevin deadpanned. "I can see he's great about giving you some space and comfort after everything with your uncle."

"When Con has an agenda, he doesn't make an effort to hide it. I'm sorry about that."

He shrugged and hugged her. "It's fine as long as you're okay. You are, aren't you?"

She nodded and buried her face into his shoulder. "I will be, especially if I can get some space from my family for a while."

"I can help with that."

"Hopefully. There's going to be funeral stuff but school's basically out and the DP can be more manageable. I just think more time for us is a good thing."

"I'm not going to argue that. But there are some things I have to ask you about."

"You overheard a lot?"

"Didn't mean to. I tried to be upstairs and polite but your voices carry like crazy."

"Oh, cool," Moira replied, but she was almost as stilted as she'd been with Connor. "Anything in particular. I'm like an open book."

He'd believe that when he saw it, but if she were offering...

" Kon-El is that an old country name?"

Moira traced her fingers over the front of his shirt. "It's not anything, not to me."


	6. Chapter 6

6

"Your brother seemed really upset," Kevin offered, taking a sip of his wine. "I noticed Alura came by yesterday."

Moira's face closed off. "Everyone's been upset about how everything happened. They want me to deal with some of the arrangements. I just can't, you know? I'm the one who was there and it's more my dad's job to deal with these sorts of things."

"Alura was pretty upset too. You know her. She doesn't yell, not like Con, but she was really subdued. She wanted to make sure you're okay."

Moira sighed and took a sip of her water. "I'm fine. I just don't want to have to pick up all the pieces and go through the details. It's not that I'm not gonna go. It's just that I need more than three days to be ready to get into all of that chaos. I just feel like I need a break from all my family responsibility stuff."

Part of him was shamefully happy that Moira was finally burrowing out from under the overbearing nature of her family, that she was finally trying to move on from what her brothers wanted for her. Still, he didn't think that the complete priority one-eighty was a good thing. It had to be the grief talking. "And if Alura came by, maybe you should go home to Smallville for a while. I don't want you to do something you'll regret in a year from now."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I regret that we were ever downtown. I can't...I just need some room."

He nodded, "Then you can have it."

She smiled. "And that's why I'm here. Smallville can wait, you know?"

"Can it?" A voice behind him gruffed and he turned around to find Bruce Wayne, of all people standing there. "Moira."

"Moira?" Kevin blinked back at her. "That's your Uncle Bruce? You know Bruce Wayne."

Moira's glare was still focused on the broad shouldered man in front of her. "That's the problem with going out to dinner. Even the nice places have vermin, you know?"

"That's not funny, Moira."

She smiled. "I think the double entendres are fun, Uncle Bruce. So, you're the third person out to 'talk some sense' into me. I thought I made it very clear with Con."

Bruce Wayne glanced down at him and then toward a quieter corner of Le Petit Flor . "We shouldn't do this here."

"You came over to my table," she reminded him.

"But there are things best kept private."

"I'm not in the private sector right now, Uncle Bruce," she replied. "You're here because you want me to run errands . I'm not doing that anymore."

Her uncle scowled and there was something about Bruce Wayne then that was unsettling, something that Kevin had never noticed in all the society photographs. There was an edge there, a hardness, and suddenly Kevin realized whatever errands there were to be done didn't involve preparing for a wake or calling extended family. "We should-"

"If you're going to talk, talk."

Mr. Wayne considered him. "I'll be candid."

Moira smiled and it wasn't pleasant. "No, you won't be."

"And you're counting on that," he added. "That I'm more circumspect than anyone else because of what you've built."

"Something like that."

"You promised, Moira. You swore."

"I can unswear."

"Your father wouldn't and neither would your mother."

"Dad didn't see what I saw, and if it were bad enough...I think any of you might. I'm coming to the services. But I'm not doing anything more. I'm done."

"Moira-"

"Done, Uncle Bruce. And you wouldn't want to press me, would you?"

Mr. Wayne narrowed his eyes at the ugly metal cuff around Moira's wrist. "Today, I would, but I can see it's not worth it. I'm disappointed in you."

Moira swallowed. "I'm not always just like mom and dad."

Mr. Wayne took a measured breath and looked between her wrist and him. Kevin tried not to shift under the scrutiny. "You're just like them, Mo-Ru-Cek , and for that I'm sorry. Services are-"

"Sunday, noon. I know. Uncle Bruce, I was eating."

"You were doing a lot of things," he groused before stalking away.

"So, that was an interesting day," Kevin said, from where he sat reading on his futon. "I had no idea you knew The Bruce Wayne."

"He's just my uncle," she replied, stretching out on the sofa next to him.

"Bruce Wayne isn't just anyone's uncle. He's the second richest man in the country."

She nodded. "And my step-grandfather is Lionel Luthor and my aunt's dated Oliver Queen a few times. I have a lot of family friends. It's not so unusual. It's just how everything sort of snowballed starting, I guess, from when Grandma Martha became part of the state senate. The more annoying part is having a bunch of overprotective uncles tell you what to do. Uncle Ollie's almost as bad."

Kevin whistled. He knew about her grandfather, of course. He'd just never quite seen Moira as the blue blood type. She spent so much of her time buried in the DP archives. If she really wanted, he bet she could have her pick of any company she liked-Queen or Wayne Industries or LuthorCorp-to be drawing her 401K from. Moira was all about the news, like the rest of her family, but, really, the power she had access to. He'd never thought about it before, not seriously, but she'd be perfect...if she gave a little nudge to her uncles, his career would be set.

"He seemed as angry as everyone else."

Moira stood up and stalked over to his desk, reaching for one of the bottles of water he had there. "Everyone wants to tell me what to do. What I need to do, whom I should date, how I should act. I love my parents and they never tell me I should do certain things, but they have all these expectations. Family business. You don't have to do it...but they'll frown at you if you don't."

"So you were pushed into journalism?"

Moira blinked. "What? Journalism? No, I love that. I always wanted to be a reporter, even when I was little. I used to try and find all these stories on the farm. I was like this little eavesdropper. So, no, I wasn't pushed into journalism."

"Then what other family business is there? Politics?"

Moira blanched. "Nothing, forget I said anything." She picked up the bottle and began to drain it, but still didn't come back to the futon.

Kevin frowned. He had better luck with brick walls. "Moira, we have to talk."

"Look, I know I'm wigged because of the whole funeral thing. I get that. I know I'm being all stubborn with Con and everybody and I am so glad I have you. You make stuff make sense."

"Moira, I try, but I have this feeling you're not being honest with me."

She frowned and clenched the bottle tighter. "About?"

"A lot of things. Maybe this isn't the best time to do this because of the funeral and everything, but there are things I've just been putting together and none of it...things don't add right."

Moira ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "Do we always have to do this?"

"I don't know. How much of the things that you tell me are the truth?"

"I don't know-"

Kevin sighed. "I don't want to have to keep doing this with you. I don't want you to feel like I'm always attacking you, but then people tell me things and nothing makes sense."

"What doesn't?"

"Matt talked to someone on the Student Council about the blood drive. You're not even on the student council."

"I lied. I'm sorry. I thought if you knew I was that obsessive with The Daily Planet, you'd never keep dating me."

"That's not it. You had Alura and Jacks both lie to me about it. They're complicit."

"They did it because I asked them and because I felt stupid for always stiffing you about everything. I was afraid 'I was in archives' or 'I was covering the pigeon beat' wouldn't cut it for you."

"It's not just that."

"What is it about?" She asked, her voice still calm, but her tone clipped.

He stood up and crossed the room, picking up a cardboard box before handing it to her. "It's more about this."

Moira frowned and start shuffling through the remains in the box. "So it's about half a lamp, a busted clock, and it looks like a cracked mirror. Color me confused."

"There's also about three CD cases in there too."

"Okay," she said, scrunching up her face a little. "So you're starting a collection of garbage. That's pretty exciting."

"Moira, these used to all work and be in one piece. They shattered."

"You should be more careful with your things," she suggested.

"They shatter after we fight or, well, you know..." he said, blushing. "Moira, sometimes after we make love I hear crashes. These are just some of the things I've collected. It's like if you get emotional, things break."

Moira bit her lip and looked between the box and him. "I don't have to listen to this."

"It's true though, isn't it? Matt and Nick-"

"The stoner?"

"My roommate. They both think that you're a meteor freak."

Her jaw clenched. "I told you not to use that term."

"I'm sorry," he replied, although he didn't complete mean it. He didn't see the point in pulling out the niceties and the political correctness, not when most of them were in Belle Reve or busy escaping every week from Arkham. He'd never thought of dating one, never thought they could pass. "It's true isn't it?. You're infected."

She swallowed and fingered the shattered remains of his lamp. "I don't know what you want me to say."

"The truth for once would be appreciated, just once, Moira."

She looked back at him and he could see her right fist clenched at her side. "My grandparents lived in Granville."

He blinked. "That's not an answer."

"It actually is, if you give me a second. My mom was riding in the car with her mom to visit them the day the meteors hit in 1989. There was an accident and they were both in it." She laughed bitterly. "I'm third generation."

"Your mom? Is that why I've never gotten to meet her?"

"No, it's because my mom's the best damn reporter at the DP and she'd ask to many questions. And my dad's more protective than Con and if he even thought you were doing with me what you are doing, you'd be in an altoids box."

"But your mom's a mu.." he sputtered there, cowed by the way she flinched. "She's infected."

"That's sort of the gist of this conversation," Moira said, her eyes not meeting his. "So that's where I got it from."

"And Con?"

She shook her head. "Con's not like me. He's not infected."

"But-"

"I'm the only one like me. I know I've not been that honest or honest at all, but in my family, it's just me and my mom."

"And she breaks things too?" He asked, and he wondered if he sounded as calm as he wanted to.

Moira folded in on herself a little. "My mother's ability really isn't the point. And it's not breaking things, exactly. I'm telekinetic."

Kevin had to remember how to work his jaw. "What?"

"You figured it all out, hadn't you? The things that just broke. You knew I was doing them."

"I guess I didn't put much thought into the exact how. I thought you just made stuff explode."

"I'm not good at controlling it if I'm really emotional. That's why it happens when we fight and..."

"Other times."

"Pretty much. My parents are going to kill me for saying any of this."

Kevin frowned. "You were never going to tell me, were you?"

"I hadn't decided. Things are different, cause of my grandma and Senator Ross and what they've done. Hell, everyone knows what my Aunt Maddie does and that it's part of what makes her work unique. It's not always a shameful family secret."

"But you go to a lot of trouble to hide it. I thought you'd be the last person to do that, considering how you're sometimes on a soapbox."

"It's insulting," she replied.

"I wasn't trying to be. I wasn't thinking. It's just what people say. They're words."

"And they suck," she replied, her voice quiet. "No one says you have to declare it. It's just something my dad never wanted me to do, and it makes things harder. I just...things are easier when people don't know."

"You were going to keep it that way, weren't you?"

"I hadn't decided. It's a way to kill a first date. I've never gotten so far with a guy that it was an issue. I was debating about what to say or what Con and Dad wouldn't kill me for saying." She sighed, and crossed her arms over her chest. "So that's what you've been angling for, the deep and dark. I'm meta. What happens after that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going to throw me out? I know what you think about Smallville Specials." The bitterness in her words was so thick.

"I didn't say I hated every meta I met. I just never met any before."

Moira shook her head. "In Lowell County? I'm not your first, just the first to admit it. There are more than you think this close to Smallville. We're not all in Belle Reve."

"I didn't-"

"It's the thought. So that's exactly where we are. How do you feel?"

"Confused."

"I'm still the same, you know. It's just a bit extra. Honestly, it's more a pain than it's worth. It's not like I use it to clean the house or juggle in my free time."

He laughed weakly at the joke. "You've lied a lot, about the extra DP hours, what you can do. How do I know you're being honest now?"

"Well, you can prove I've got the TK."

"Moira."

She sighed, "I'm telling you that I'm being more honest than I've ever been with anyone outside of my family. I'm telling you that I do have abilities and that I'm going to risk admitting to that and letting you see that side of me. That's true."

"Then I have to have some time to think about it. I love you, but-"

"You're not sure if you love the meteor enhanced version."

"I'm not sure if I love the version who lies to me about blood drives."

She nodded and stepped forward slowly, reaching up one hand to touch his cheek, and he let her. She didn't feel any different than she ever had, same soft embrace. "I know. But that's not what I needed to have an answer on. Do you want to even try?"

He sighed and looked back at her, at how beautiful her green eyes shone, at her scared, wounded expression. He did love Moira. He just hadn't thought about a mutant part of it, not seriously. They were talking meteor infection and insanity and all of it, for Christ's sakes.

He didn't want any of that.

But he'd wanted Moira.

He pressed his hand to hers and leaned into her touch. "I do want to try but what I said..."

Moira sighed and her eyes were watering a little. "My mom dated my Uncle Jimmy first. It's this thing. But he used to really not like meteor infected people. He had this run-in with a few who tried to kill him. He said things too, but they managed to work it out and be friends. It could be a shot."

He nodded. "Okay, then we'll try it."

She brightened at that, "Really?"

"Really, really." She leaned in and kissed him and he forced himself to relax. It was still just Moira. After a second, he relaxed completely and it felt as good as it always had. Pulling back, he added, "I love you."

She grinned and kissed him again. "Me too. So I can stay?"

"Is that all the surprises I'm due for?"

Moira's smile broadened. "You're not due for anything, believe me."


	7. Chapter 7

7

Kevin was lying back in bed, fingers stroking through Moira's long auburn hair. It had been over a month since her confession and about that much time since the funeral. It had been nice in some ways. She wasn't always distracted, always gone. In other ways it made things harder. He just had to try. He'd always thought of metas like Clayface from Gotham or like the inmates of Belle Reve-insane, unstable, less than human. Hell, usually deformed. He certainly had never thought of them as trustworthy. And while Moira had lied to him, she wasn't crazy. She certainly was more than pleasing to the eye.

Hell, she still acted like she always had.

Except, he knew there was something else just underneath the surface, an incredible amount of power. If she just got distracted and emotional enough to accidentally shatter mirrors and clocks, he often wondered what she could do if she actually tried.

"So," he said, turning on his side to look at her.

"What?"

"I know you keep, um, well..."

"I'm working on not breaking your clocks. Walmart is your friend," she replied, blushing. "I think it's been a week at least since that time with the Deer Park bottle and that's just plastic."

Kevin tried not to tense. "Okay, so awkward question but with your parents, does it still happen."

"They don't consult me but my mom is not a telekinetic so I wouldn't know."

He frowned. "She's not?"

"Different DNA, different mutations. My grandmother isn't a telekinetic either. We sort of run the gamut in my family," Moira said breezily, but her smile stiffened.

"You never did say what your mom and grandmother do."

"It's not like the Justice League or X-Men or something. I didn't feel like giving out a powers roster."

"Just curious."

Moira sighed. "My mom heals, and I don't mean like she just has a great immune system. She doesn't do it often because the side effects are terrible, but she can raise the dead. There was this accident with my Aunt Lois and she saved her."

Kevin had not expected that. He didn't even know that was possible. Of course metas could do anything. It also had never occurred to him that a Smallville meteor mutant wouldn't have a harmful power. Certainly the ones in Belle Reve didn't. "Are you serious?"

She nodded. "I never saw it. It happened a long time before I was born, but she can heal smaller injuries too."

"And your grandmother?"

"I'm not sure. She's not...she's at Fairview. She was okay for a while after the shower, but the side effects of her ability leave her in a catatonic state. Mom and I aren't like that, but grandma hasn't spoken a word since my mom was in college."

"So does that mean your kids would have the same problem."

Moira wrinkled up her nose in disgust. "Just mine?"

"Well, anything else might be presumptuous."

"I don't think so. I think whatever her power is overloaded her system. I don't think the catatonia is so heritable. I mean, her ability wasn't."

"But the mutan...the metas in Belle Reve are sick."

"There are a lot of Smallville metas that no one knows about. They're like me or like Maddie. They go to school or have a nine to five job and no one suspects it.

"You've said that before."

"It's true. I think Arkham and Belle Reve just give all of us a bad reputation."

Kevin didn't think the League helped all that much either. That much power in one concentration made some people nervous. The average citizen was too excited having someone like the Manhunter or Superman solve all their problems to worry about what happened when they stopped or, worse, decided to make some. "I see."

"Sorry soapboxes and pillow talk don't match so well."

"I asked. I was curious."

"I guess you would be. I've never had a boyfriend know and you've kept your curiosity to yourself so long."

"On that note, you said that you never just use your ability to get housework done faster or anything like. Do you never use it?"

Moira sighed again and started pulling at the threads on her comforter. "I used to for some things, but now I'm just trying to get it under control so you have a bedroom left. Really, comic books and movies aside, having a superpower isn't as great as you'd think." At that statement, she looked down at the thick gray band on her wrist.

"So never just play pranks for fun?"

"When I was younger, I had to learn how to use it. It sucks when you're really little because all little kids throw tantrums or have nightmares and when that happened I then ended up accidentally shattering windows." She smiled, still staring at her wrist. "I learned out to roll out cookie dough with it. Very different way to bake. I did practice just juggling pebbles when I was younger, things like that."

"Sounds a lot different from how I grew up."

"It was, but that's been a long time. I just use my hands for everything now." She grinned. "Want me to show you?"

"So, you're finishing up the plans for Rush this fall?"

"Yup, working on all of that boring, tedious stuff that if I told you about it, I'd have to kill you. Don't mess with sorority secrets."

"I won't," he replied, leaning over and kissing her. "Have fun, Moira."

"I won't but thanks for the cheer," she added, leaving out the front door.

Matt whistled as Kevin shut the door behind her. "I see things are going much better with Moira."

"Yup. Perfect even."

"That's a 180."

Kevin distinctly did not like the path the conversation was heading. "Well we worked things out, had a real talk. It was great."

"Interesting."

"I hate it when you do that, give cross-examinations. What are you actually getting at?"

"Nick has a big mouth."

"Understatement."

"He also has the bedroom next to yours and we have the thinnest walls imaginable."

"And? So what?"

"He says he hears a crash about twice a week. Either you and Moira are incredibly enthusiastic or I wasn't wrong."

"What were you right about again?"

Matt smiled, a look he'd seen him wear around the boardroom at his dad's company. "Moira's a Smallville Special, isn't she?"

"She really doesn't like that term."

"That's not the question. I don't really care what she likes, but she is, isn't she? You're actually dating a mutant. Technically, doing a lot more than just dating."

"Yeah, so Moira's meteor infected. Are you going to make a big deal out of it?" Vaguely, it occurred to Kevin that this wasn't information he was supposed to be spreading around. However, Moira had never made him promise to keep silent about it. Besides, it was just Matt. It wasn't like his roommates were going to spread it around.

"You're insane, you know."

"I'm not."

"Meteor mutants are psychopaths."

"Moira's not. You've known her on and off for ten months. She's never been anything but sweet. Hell, if she's nuts it's all OCD. She really is a great reporter and sorority president, most organized girl I've ever met."

"Point. Moira seems stable, for now, but you're not serious."

"I think we're pretty serious."

"Well Nick thinks you certainly sound that way. Look, Moira is a very nice girl. She lies like a rug, but she's sweet and very beautiful."

"Naturally. I have taste."

Matt snorted. "Not currently. You don't date meteor freaks. What? Will you bring her home to your parents? Spend nine months trying to come up with reasons why any grandkid they have makes glass shatter? What if it got out?"

"It hasn't."

"We figured it out."

"Moira has control issues if she's over emotional. Most people aren't one wall away when we're having sex."

Matt shook his head. "No one is going to want to touch you, you do know that. Moira's family is very powerful, obviously, with her connections to LuthorCorp and her grandmother's record in the senate but it doesn't matter. If anyone ever found out you married a mutant, that you knew when you did it, they'd never hire you for anything. Moira might be the exception, but those freaks are dangerous and no one wants to be associated with them."

"That's incredibly harsh."

"I'm trying to look out for you. If you did marry her and it ever got out, kiss your career goodbye. Hell, kiss your family's good name goodbye. You should stop seeing her."

"I think I love her."

"Think. There are a lot of cute redheads out there, Kevin. And the rest of them aren't mutants. You just should think about things."

"Are you my father now?"

"No, but I'm your fraternity brother and I look out for you. Besides, I know you well enough to know that you'll recover, find another girl. Moira's not that special, aside from the obvious."

"I don't want to."

Matt leaned in closer, and when he spoke, his tone was harsh. "Do you really want to be tied to a mutant for the rest of your life?"

"No one has to know she's a mutant. She's great at passing."

"Seems like too much effort to me. Is she really worth it?"

Kevin had no answer for that. He thought she was, as long as no one had to know.

"Mom, Dad, the whole surprise dinner thing is nice," Kevin said, adjusting his tie as he sat down at the table. It had been a few months since he'd really spent much time with his parents. He and Moira were in a honeymoon period and, despite his job and her schedule at the DP, it felt like they barely left his bedroom anymore. Oddly, things had just gotten so much better since the funeral and they kept improving.

"Well," his mother said, smiling politely at him and her teeth were as white as the pearls around her neck. "We wanted to surprise you. It had been so long since you'd come by the penthouse. Dinner was long overdue."

"I know and I'm sorry," he added, folding the linen napkin over his lap. "But why are there two extra places."

"Because," his mom said, practically trilling. "You have been leaving so much out."

"Out?"

"You didn't tell us you were dating Senator Kent's granddaughter, son," his dad added. "We invited Moira and her brother Connor for dinner with us."

Kevin felt nauseous and he knew it had nothing to do with the smell of liver and onions wafting in from the kitchen. "You invited Con too?"

"Well of course. He's such a delightful young man. Matt told us all about Moira-"

"He did?"

"And she sounds lovely, already published at the Daily Planet before she's graduated from college. How amazing."

"Oh," Kevin said, gulping. Surely Matt hadn't said the other part. Moira would kill him. No scratch that. Con would kill him slowly if the whole bit about her being a meteor freak got out and his mother was the biggest gossip in the city. Of course, she also hated all the meta legislation. If she knew about Moira, he highly doubted she'd be a dinner guest. "And you asked Connor because?"

"Well, he answered the phone when we called and he was such a polite young man. If we can't meet her and her parents yet, we'll settle for her and her brother."

"Joy," Kevin said, plastering a smile on his face when Moira, who naturally looked stunning in a short green dress, and Con walked through the front door.

"Mrs. Winter, thank you so much for inviting us. I think this is so great," Moira enthused, leaning over and shaking his mother's hand. "I really have been meaning to get to meet you."

"No trouble at all Moira. I'm only sorry your mom and dad couldn't come."

Con glared at his sister. "Mom and dad are out of town on business currently. It's a crisis you know-"

"In Singapore. That whole earthquake thing and they are covering it for the Planet. It's a big mess," Moira added, smiling back at Con, just so her slightly crooked incisors showed. "Sitting down, Con?"

Her brother nodded and pulled out her chair for her, "No problem. It's been so long, Kevin. How are you?"

"Fine," he replied stiffly. Con had always been a thorn in his side and even with Moira's hand in his, he couldn't feel anything but frustration.

"So, Connor isn't it?" his mother started in as the maid started doling out soup. "Moira mentioned you're an artist?"

"I get by, ma'am. I'm not exactly Van Gogh or anything, but I make enough to not be in a box under an overpass."

"I think I've seen some of your work when I went to a fundraiser Oliver Queen hosted."

Con blushed and it looked identical to when Moira did it. "Oh, well, that's an early one. I couldn't get my Uncle Bruce or my Uncle Oliver not to help. Uncle Ollie bought one and then raved about it. I'd like to think that by now people just like my work."

His dad nodded. "It was most unusual. I've never seen an abstract like it."

"Somehow almost like a landscape," his mother added.

Moira paled, "Only from Con's daydreams."

"You paint?" Kevin was surprised by this. Mostly, his conversations with Con had been restricted to a few words and Con glaring at him like he wanted to break legs.

"I do all sorts of things. New York's not just a good place if you love the right baseball team," Con replied.

"Oh I just didn't know."

"Well it doesn't always come up."

"Yes, your art work is compelling, but I was more confused about your choice of profession," his dad said. "As I'd heard it, you inherited the controlling shares of LuthorCorp from your grandfather when you turned 18."

Kevin was beyond confused. "You own LuthorCorp?"

Con's jaw clenched. "Technically, after Lex Luthor had to leave the country for all those charges filed against him."

"And have that nice superfun vacation in Switzerland which, you know, doesn't extradite," Moira added.

"Yeah, grandpa left me the company. It's not like he told me he was going to do it. I mean, I turned 18 and he was too old to really run it. I have a board and stuff. I wouldn't know what to do with it."

Kevin tried to remind his jaw to work. "You own the second largest business in the country and you live in Greenwich Village in a loft?"

"I don't really need that much space. Really, I don't actually want the company but grandpa wanted it to stay in the family."

"Well he could have turned it over to Moira," his mother suggested.

"It's not a sexism thing," Moira chimed in. "Um, since Kon's mom is married to Lex, well, I guess it makes him more eligible."

"Now I'm really confused," Kevin said and he noticed his parents exchange a look.

"And this gets off to awkward," Moira replied. "Con and I are half siblings. His mom is Lana Luthor."

"Unfortunately. My bio mom's a pain. I think my real one is much cooler."

"Oh seconded," Moira replied.

Kevin considered that. It made a lot of sense. It explained how Moira could be a mutant but Con wouldn't be. Her dad was normal and so was Mrs. Luthor. Of course Con would be. It also explained why he just didn't look anything like her, with his dark complexion and unusual eyes.

He'd been too busy posturing with Con to really notice before.

"Wow, the things you learn."

"Yeah, we have a lot of interesting things in our family. It's not just the whole Washington or LuthorCorp thing either. Right Mo?"

"Of course Con," and Moira wasn't giving anything that approached a genuine smile.

"Yes, your grandmother's record would be even more colorful. All that legislation she and Senator Ross have pushed through."

"The meta rights. I'm really proud of her. Aren't you, Mo?"

It seemed like a game for him, needling Moira, bringing up things Kevin and she both would rather skate around. Kevin was glad he didn't have brothers like Con.

"I think what grandma's done is very important. My mom covered a lot of the movement it's how she got her Pulitzer."

"Oh is it?" his mom said, frowning.

"You seem upset," Moira prodded.

"No, it's just...I respect the ACLU leanings of your grandmother but, surely, you don't completely agree with her."

"Of course we do," Con replied evenly. "I control enough of my company for charitable donations and it's gone into the lobbying and into the meta orphans' fund."

"Oh," his dad replied.

Yeah, oh. Yup, Moira was going to go over great with them, best to never mention anything unusual about her for the next, well, ever.

Moira frowned. "Yeah, like I said, my whole family feels very strongly about it. Um, and hey this soup is good. Do you have the recipe..."

Kevin had kissed Moira good night and walked her down to the front of the apartment complex before he went back to talk to his parents. When he walked back up, their expression had gone from country club polite to concerned. "You liked her?"

"Son," his father replied, slipping off his tie. "Moira is a very nice girl, very charming."

"Her family's connections are impeccable, but we don't think she's the kind of girl you should keep seeing."

"Because of what her grandmother does?"

"That's part of it but the other part is the scandal from her family," his mom added.

"I thought you said her connections were impeccable."

"The senate and LuthorCorp are impressive connections, but the story of her family is unseemly. Lana Luthor has been married to Lex twice. The first time Con's father broke everything up, had an affair with her or so The Planet said. It was a huge scandal," his dad said.

"They weren't even married when he was born and she bounced back to Lex," his mother finished. "Like I said, not the best track record, despite the business prowess of LuthorCorp," his mom added. "Not to mention the sympathy for mutants. That's just not our sort at all."


	8. Chapter 8

8

Kevin looked at the red and golden leaves above his head in Central Park. One year. One year ago today he'd started dating Moira Kent. His continued decision to date her ended up with nothing but criticism from Matt as well as more than one joke from Nick about what color lycra Moira preferred to wear. (Matt had a big mouth and Nick assumed all metas were either superheroes or supervillains in their spare time.) His mother continued to frown at him whenever he mentioned Moira's name. On top of that, his father kept trying to set him up with the daughters of his his associates.

And, naturally, Con continued, when he stopped by unannounced, to be as pleasant as always.

Dating Moira was harder than he'd ever thought it would be. He'd certainly never invested in a relationship like this before. And yet, she was beautiful, smart, generous and one of kind. There wasn't a girl out there like her and that was apart from her mutation.

He was in love with her.

Which was why he was waiting on a park bench with an old overcoat pulled tight around him.

It wasn't too long before the guest of honor met him.

"Alura! Great, I am so happy you could meet me."

Alura, who must have been freezing in nothing more than a thin three-quarter length shirt, smiled a broad toothy grin back at him. As always, she was as kind and considerate as Con was an ass. "Kevin, hi, I had no idea what all the cloak and dagger stuff was about but I have to say I'm excited. Is this about getting Mo a good Christmas gift? Because you can never start too early."

"Well I do hate Black Friday, but I've already picked something out. I just wanted to get your okay on it before I gave it to her."

"Christmas is six weeks away."

"But it's not a Christmas gift," he said, pulling the small velvet box out of his pocket. He opened it up to reveal a delicate gold ring and a good sized diamond, cut in an oval shape.

Alura's face fell for an instant before she plastered another bright smile back on. "Wow that really is lovely. It's nice."

"You don't like it."

"No, it's nice. It's beautiful, really."

"You said 'nice' twice. It's not right, is it?"

Alura raked her hand through her long bangs. "It's not that. It's a very nice-"

"We established that. But it's not something Moira is going to like."

She sighed. "It's an old country tradition. Jacks's dad and Uncle Cal gave bracelets instead of rings. My mom had one saved from her family and she gave it to my dad to symbolically give back to her."

"Moira already has a bracelet. It's this hideous gray band. She says that Lana gave it to her dad."

"That one's different and I can't believe she'd do that," Alura spit out and Kevin shrunk back from her. He'd never seen her angry, but she was intimidating when she wanted to be. Why would Alura be angry about a bracelet. Even if it came from Lana Luthor, that didn't seem enough provocation. Alura was the most mild mannered person he'd ever met. This anger was something deeper.

"You didn't know?"

"Trust me. None of us knew. She had no right to take that. Thanks for telling me."

"Should I ask her to take it off?"

"Has that worked in the past?"

"No, but I thought it was something traditional."

"It is, but not in a good way. Mo is going to be in so much trouble when I tell my mom."

"I didn't mean to get her in trouble. Can you just give me 24 hours. I want to be able to do this right. She's coming by tonight."

Alura swore under her breath, something terse and angry although not in English. "At least opt for a bracelet. It's what we wear."

"I like the ring."

"You're not going to be the one wearing it."

"Rings are customarily given. No one else would get she's engaged."

Alura frowned. "Then the eye catching ring is for the image, isn't it?"

"No, it's not like that."

"I think it is like that. I'd prefer it if you waited. There's a lot Uncle Cal and Aunt Chloe need to go over with Mo and I don't think it's a very good time."

"I know the bracelet's a type of meteor rock. I get that."

"You don't get half of what you think you do. I'd just wait and I'd still go with a tennis bracelet instead. But if you loved Moira, you'd wait until my aunt and uncle talked with her. I think she's mixed up."

"No one wants this. I thought Con was an ass and Jacks was overprotective, but you don't want it either. You don't want to be my cousin-in-law, do you?"

"Honestly?"

"Now would be a good time."

Alura shook her head. "I don't think that you're a good match for my family."

"Because I'm not old country?"

"Since the old country doesn't exist anymore, that's not an option. I just don't think this is the right thing. Mo has to give up too much for it. I thought she was happy, but I don't think she really is."

"All this because of a bracelet."

"It's more than that."

"It always is with you people. No one ever explains everything to me. It's just secrets on top of secrets or things left unsaid. You think you're all so important."

She stiffened. "Not exactly, but I know what my cousin needs and I don't think you're it. Kevin, just wait." And with that, she stomped off.

"I am exhausted. Whoever said that chasing down an exclusive on pigeons was not hard work, well, the columnists under the Tiffanies can bite me." Moira said, shucking off her jacket and stepping out of some insanely high heels (she tried to compensate for her "midget" stature). "Hey, you look all serious today and a little clammy. Do you have the flu?"

He shook his head and swallowed, and, God, was his throat dry. "I have something I need to ask you."

"Oh is this the whose house do you want to do Turkey Day at discussion because I think us at your house is way better than you with Con. I don't think I can ever get him to act like a grown-up."

"No, Moira, I have something else and I'm nervous."

"Well, if it's asking me if I want a Santa sweater for Christmas then that's a no."

"Moira," he said, getting down on one knee and he watched her eyes go wide. "We've been dating for a while now."

"I know," and her voice was so quiet.

Pulling out the box from his pocket, he flipped it open. "Will you marry me?"

"I'd love to, but we have to talk first."

Her tone suggested she wanted to marry him about as much as he wanted to go through a cavity search at the airport. "What's wrong?" He asked, standing back up and handing her the box.

Moira sniffled and held the box up to her face. "It's really beautiful."

"It's for you, you know."

"I got that."

"Don't you want to put it on?"

"I do, but I think you need to hear some things first," she said, finally slipping the ugly band from off her wrist. The glow immediately died out and Kevin wondered if that would happen with any meteor mutant or just with her. "You're going to be very mad at me."

"I don't understand."

"I have to tell you everything if you're going to marry me."

"There's an everything. I thought we went through this when you told me you were infected."

"I said that you weren't due for any other surprises, and since I didn't think back then we were getting married I meant it."

"You held something back. I thought you trusted me." Although, he technically had let his roommates know that Moira wasn't exactly normal.

" I do, but what I have to tell you isn't like my mutation. It isn't my truth alone. It's for family. It's about Con and Jacks and Alura. About my dad and Aunt Kara too. All of us."

"I don't understand."

Moira swallowed and twisted her fingers together. "I'm not a meteor mutant, not exactly."

"No I'm really confused. You told me about your mom. I saw you use your powers."

"No, my mom's infected and so am I but it's a lot more complicated than that. I...oh this sucks, no wonder it took dad forever with mom." Moira swallowed again and stared down at the floor. "My dad isn't from an old country. He and Aunt Kara aren't from some Soviet state that doesn't exist anymore."

"Then where are they from?"

"Originally? A planet called Krypton. It's about 28 galaxies over and happened to explode about forty years ago, Earth time. My father's birth parents and my uncle sent Aunt Kara and my dad here to save their lives."

He frowned back at her. "Is this how the mental illness starts with the meteor infected."

"I'm serious!" Moira said, holding her chin up. "My dad's, well, he uses the term intergalactic traveler and my mom's meteor infected and I'm sort of a mutt."

"A mutt?"

She nodded. "I have mix of both their abilities. That's the power my mom gave me. I heal too. I started doing it when I was about six with my gerbil. From my dad, I got almost everything else-speed..." And with that Moira, well she flickered, and all of a sudden an incredibly tacky model of the Statue of Liberty was in her hands.

Kevin gulped. "How did you do that?"

"Like I said. It's a laundry list: strength, speed, something we call heat vision, flight, a few other things. Enhanced senses, a natural invulnerability that is enhanced with what I got from my mom. The telekinesis is some weird side effect. It's what you get when you cross a human and a Kryptonian. Con and Alura and Jacks all have it too, but not my dad and my aunt."

"Come again."

"I know the whole list is really long and I can go through it again. Actually, there's this really funny one my dad does and I have even odds on Jacks doing it one day but-"

Kevin felt something cold settle over his chest. Moira believed this. "You can fly?"

"Well, I can do a lot of things. I...it's why I wear the bracelet. There's nothing I know of that can mute my mom's abilities or get rid of the telekinesis, but when I wear the bracelet, I can't do any Kryptonian things. The strength...it's a pain to deal with in, um, delicate situations. And we all sleep-float. It would have been too obvious. I mean, I spend the night and you wake up and find me four feet above the mattress. I just couldn't. And I'm telling you all this now and my parents are going to kill me because it's top secret and I just-"

"Moira! Stop."

She jumped a little and nodded. "Sorry. I just, sometimes I ramble when I'm nervous but you knew that."

Kevin stood up and started to circle her. Moira stood there and waited, breathing heavily. She looked the same, just like she had after he'd found out she was a meteor mutant. She was still a good seven inches shorter than he was. She was still slightly freckled and had delicate crepe like skin. "It's really true?"

She nodded. "I know it sounds like I just snorted something. But it's true. I could, um, show off something else. I'd rather not raise the dead though. That one's a bitch."

He paused and quirked his head at her. He wanted to reach out and touch her, just had the oddest urge to poke at her shoulder, as if it would suddenly start feeling scaly. "You're not lying."

"Well not intentionally. If Aunt Kara and dad made up the whole space alien thing then they're jerks."

"You're an alien."

Moira scrunched up her face. "Half. I'm a half and half, but not cream. I just...mom likes to see that Con and I are as human as we are Kryptonian and genetically speaking that's accurate."

"But the other half is a mutant."

Moira nodded and her voice was faint. "I swept the superpower lottery. I didn't want to. It just sort of happened."

"So fly?"

She grinned. "I did that long before I walked. It's a lot of fun, actually."

"So all of you-all six of you-can fly and are incredibly strong and fast and Oh My God."

Moira worried her lip. "You have figured the last part out, haven't you?"

"You're in the League."

Moira nodded. "I can't tell you about that ever. It's all top secret because there are aliases and double identities there. My dad, though, he's been in it for a long time. Helped really get it started back when he was younger than I am now."

"You're dad's Superman, isn't he?"

"He was the ghost first but, yeah, and I'm Flamebird."

Kevin gaped at her. "You're an alien and you're not just part of the Justice League but your immediate family pretty much comprises the five most powerful members."

"Jacks is sort of on technical adviser duty."

"I've seen you on television."

Moira nodded. "Did they get my best side?"

"Moira, I'm serious. I've seen you. I saw you lift up whole halves of skyscrapers after earthquakes and help reroute tidal waves. You're not just a little stronger than normal. You're inhumanly strong."

"That's what happens when your dad's not technically a homo sapiens," she bit back. "Kevin, I'm the same person. I just...have a lot extra," she finished reaching out for him.

He instantly took a step back. Making his clock crack was one thing. He'd seen her bend steel with those hands and there was that thing she did with her eyes. Christ, she set things of fire with a look. All that power in one small body and it was so incredibly dangerous, so incredibly alien .

"Is it really like that?" she called out, blue eyes boring into his. "You said you loved me. You were going to marry me ten minutes ago."

"I was going to marry girl with a meteor infection. I wasn't going to start intergalactic breeding."

Moira's eyes flickered red for an instant. "There was no place else for my family to go. My dad and my aunt didn't ask to come here. This was all there was. It was this or die with everyone else. I certainly didn't get to choose my parents or my abilities."

"But I get to choose. Moira, I can't do this. I could deal with the mutant thing."

"The mutant thing?"

"Yes, exactly, because you were mostly normal and it only really mattered in bed but I can't deal with us not being the same species."

"I'm human."

"Humans can't do what you and your family can and you know that. Don't even lie."

"But my mom was a normal human, once upon a time. I've been raised here. It's not like Krypton is some great family vacation spot. This is all I know. Fuck, it's not like I go around speaking Klingon."

"You could kill me."

"A motivated girl and a kitchen knife could do that and you're being an ass."

"But you can flash fry me or shatter my bones or I don't know what else."

"I wouldn't do that. I'm careful. Aunt Kara and Uncle Jimmy have a completely normal marriage and he's 100% average human dork."

"Moira, you're not human ."

"Not the greatest thing in the world. I mean, it's not like it's some great prize. I've known tons of people. I've known a very nice Martian, actually. So that's very limiting."

"I can't do this. I...everyone was right."

Moira's eyes narrowed. "Everyone was what? You told someone about me?"

"I might have mentioned it to my roommates."

"You told them I was meteor infected."

"Well they guessed most of it."

Moira stepped back from him and her shoulders began to shake. "You told. I told you something incredibly private. I've never told anyone that, not ever. I trusted you to never breathe a word about it and what? You and Nick talk about it over bong hits."

"No, but it came up."

"Oh God. Oh God this is what nausea feels like isn't it? This whole dizzy and why is my throat all slobbery feeling. Con was right. The entire time he was right."

"Con?"

"Yes," she shouted, starting to pace. "He told me I couldn't trust you, that you wouldn't get it. But I defended you. I stuck up for you and you betrayed me. Oh God, you're going to tell them about this, aren't you?"

"I hadn't thought about it. I know it's embarrassing and something I don't want to share."

"But loose lips...you can't tell anyone."

"Secret identities, I sort of got that memo."

Moira looked back at him and her eyes were wide, her skin sheet white. "You can't ever tell anyone. You don't understand. It's not about the League. You really...you don't get it. Oh God, I am so stupid."

"I don't get it and I said I'd try."

"Like with my secret? With the infection. You didn't try very hard then."

"I said I'd try harder. If something slips it's not my fault."

"Yeah because 'alien from the planet Krypton' always comes up in conversation. You just have to do better."

"Why?"

"It's not safe and I mean for the six of us. No one can ever know. It's like the only rule we have. Lex Luthor knows . He found out when Connor was just a baby, just a little over six months. He stole him and my dad and ran tests on them. It sent my aunt and Jacks into hiding. Con still has nightmares about it. I know what we can do, but if people find out, they'd hunt us down. It's why there was just 'the ghost' in Metropolis for so long. It's why no one knows anything about Superman. They can't find us."

"I said I'd try."

Moira started to cry. "I know you said that and I'm so sorry."

"For what?"

"I can't take that risk, not after what happened the first time." Moira drew in a deep breath and shouted. "Aunt Kara please, I need you right now."

"What the Hell?"

And like that, a tall woman, with hair as blonde as Alura's was in his room. "Mo, Rao, what's wrong. It's not like you've been on duty in months."

"Whoa," Kevin said, letting out a low whistle. It was surreal to see people just appear in his apartment.

Moira's aunt turned and frowned back at him. " Mo-Ru-Cek , what did you do?"

Tears were flowing freely down her face now. "I told him everything. I...Aunt Kara, he asked me to marry him and I thought...I made a mistake. You have to fix it."

Aunt Kara regarded him. Superwoman was standing in front of him deciding God knew what. "I see."

"Are you going to kill me?"

"No," she said. "I'm going to send Mo home and have Alura come see her and while that happens, I'm going to kiss you."

"You'll what?"

And then her lips were on his and that was all he knew.

Epilogue

Sometimes when he went to The Ace of Clubs, he saw her, this cute girl with the most haunting blue eyes. She always came in with at least one or two men on her arm, tall guys, broad shouldered and almost too good looking, like models. He'd catch her staring at him sometimes, catch her sighing at him from across the room.

He tried once to go over, but the bigger guy, the dark-haired one with the attitude had chased him away.

But she still came and he always had this feeling that he should know her, that maybe he'd seen her once or twice around campus. Her name always seemed on the tip of his tongue. If he could only just remember.


End file.
